Reed selects deputy for tech services

As Information Technology Services enters the second month of an expansive reorganization, a new face has joined the department's helm.

George Washington University technology administrator Robyn East will serve as the University's first deputy chief information officer, effective Dec. 28.

Dan Reed, the University's CIO and vice chancellor for information technology, announced East's appointment during an ITS staff meeting Monday afternoon.

"She was someone who had strong support from all quarters," Reed said Monday evening.

East now holds the post of an executive director in the information systems and services department at George Washington University.

When Reed stepped into his position last June, the deputy CIO position was created to help him oversee information technology at the University.

Reed also directs the Institute for Renaissance Computing, a joint effort with Duke University and N.C. State University, and serves on President Bush's Information Technology Advisory Committee.

"He has multiple commitments on campus and in national organizations," said Megan Bell, acting assistant vice chancellor of communications for ITS. "He's got a lot of hats to wear, and that's one of the reasons why the deputy CIO was created."

Officials began searching for someone to fill the newly created position as soon as Reed began his tenure as vice chancellor.

The application process, which closed Aug. 27, produced nearly 175 contenders. A search committee sifted through the field, setting aside four finalists who were interviewed by both Reed and the committee.

"Everyone who talked to (East) thought she would make a difference," Reed said.

The post will give her ample opportunity to make an impact.

"The role of the deputy CIO is ... to do the day-to-day management, to do all the day-to-day work with all the assistant vice chancellors and operations," Bell said. "Dr. Reed's role is really one of strategy and vision."

East won't have much time to unpack her boxes as she arrives in the midst of what some say is the largest change to ITS since its creation seven years ago.

A complete information technology reorganization, aimed to increase flexibility and community responsiveness, kicked off Oct. 1.

The move condensed Academic Technology & Networks and Administrative Information Services, merging them into one unit: ITS.

Although Reed introduced the reorganization, the impetus for it came from members of the search committee that recommended him for his position, he said.

"There really was no integration of the technology base to support those two activities," Reed said, explaining that ATN and AIS used many of the same underlying computing technologies.

"The way it was set up, it made it a little difficult to be a very flexible organization," Bell added.

In place of the two departments, information technology houses 12 new divisions, many of which employ people from the former groups working side by side.

Except for Human Resources and Financial Planning, each is manned by an acting assistant vice chancellor, Bell said. Permanent assistant vice chancellors will be selected by search committees that have yet to be formed.

The reorganization was one of the first steps toward executing the mandate Chancellor James Moeser handed Reed on Sept. 29 during the State of the University Address.

"I have also asked Vice Chancellor Reed to lead a major strategic planning effort for information technology," Moeser said during the speech. "The leading public university must lead in technology."

As part of that process, ITS will continue internal evaluations and solicit campus feedback through advisory committees.

Reed said it's impossible to target an exact date to complete Moeser's charge, as technology is an ever-changing field and change in ITS will mirror its progression.

He nonetheless underscored the need for technology officials to be nimble during the transformation.

"The notion that there is a reorganization and that things are frozen again for many, many years is really not the right way to look at it," Reed said.

"We will be in a continued evolution phase indefinitely."

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.